By Dionne Meehan
CONCERNS have been raised over delays in emptying bottle banks in East Donegal following a ‘particularly difficult’ festive period.
Over the Christmas season, some bottle banks were so full that members of the public left empty bottles, cardboard and plastic at bottle bank sites.
Cllr Patrick McGowan highlighted the issue at Thursday’s Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District meeting, calling for local bottle banks to be emptied more frequently alongside general clean-ups.
Agreeing the issue needs more attention, Cllr Gary Doherty said the situation worsened this year, with many households missing refuse collections due to poor road conditions during cold spells.
Acknowledging that bottle bank collections were an issue over Christmas, Caroline McCleary of Donegal County Council’s Environment Team said the county’s bottle banks were “inundated” this year.
“There has been a huge amount of stuff left at our bottle banks, particularly this holiday season,” she said.
“It has been really difficult to stay on top of it.
“We did have all our teams out, but I do accept, yes, in some instances, we weren’t able to keep on top of it all, but I think it was unprecedented this season.
“It is virtually impossible to stay on top of at the minute because there is ongoing illegal dumping going on at some of them as well. “
She also suggested installing CCTV to help curb illegal dumping.
“I do accept that the bottle banks are full, and people do tend to leave stuff off,” she said.
“It was particularly difficult this holiday season.”
